With a new year quickly approaching it's time to start thinking about your goals for 2017! Setting goals for the new year is so important for your business. However, it's not only important to set them, but also revisit them throughout the year to make sure your year is on track. Goal setting can help keep you motivated in your business, organized and help you measure your success for the year. Have you thought about what changes you want to make next year in your business? I have. This year, I've set 5 small goals and 5 overall large goals for ten total.

My 5 Small Goals :

1. Incorporate my love for cooking on my blog with a food series.
2. Update the website / pricing materials and bridal guide
3. Take daily time for marketing / social media
4. Write more consistently on the blog
5. Acquire new lighting equipment

My 5 Large Goals :

1. Outsource all my wedding / engagement session editing
2. Better incorporating of vendors in social media
3. Host 1 local workshop by the end of the year with a styled shoot for photographers
4. Gain 5,000 new followers on Instagram
5. Provide album proofs when delivering the full wedding gallery.

Need help making plans for next year? Here are a few tips you can use to help make your goals for 2017.

Set SMART goals. I'm sure most of you have heard about SMART goals but just in case, SMART goals are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. Setting SMART goals can help make sure your goals aren't out of the blue or way off base. Like that one time when I first started shooting weddings that I wrote down the goal of landing the cover of a major bridal magazine. BAHAHAHA.

Write down your goals where you can see them. I write down my goals in the front of my planner. That way, I can see them often. This helps keep me reminded of what my goals are, where I need to be headed and what I need to be focusing my time on.

Track your progress. Make progress reports. In order to be more accountable to myself, every quarter, I write a progress report on my business. Only I ever see it but it helps me refocus each quarter on what needs to be done and celebrate the victories.

Organize your goals. Organize your goals in categories or by time if you prefer – but organize them. This helps keep the list small, and less daunting. Want to organize your year? Check out startplanner.com from Showiteer and business guru, Kristy Dickerson. She's created an amazing planner to help you attain your goals and organize your life and business better! We love Start Planner and think it's a great way to organize your goals, life and business!

Make a plan for each goal. Now that you've set goals, make a plan on how you're going to achieve them. Goals without a plan are like having a destination without a course planned out on how to get there. You don't start a trip without a road map or GPS – so don't go into the new year with goals with no actions.

*photo courtesy of Start Planner

Cassie Jones

Cassie Jones is a wedding photographer located in Romance, Arkansas. She loves peanut butter M&M's, vanilla lattes, rapping in the car, her two children and her husband.